Training camp has been going on for a week and the first preseason game is
tomorrow! The game is in New Orleans at 7:00 pm and is only available on
radio (103.3 FM).
Avery Johnson was finally signed on 9/30. He signed a 1 year, minimum
($1,100,000) contract. Even though the title is not technically there (the
last collective bargaining agreement no longer permitted "player-coaches"),
his role will be more of a coach than a player. He is not expected to play
in games unless there is an injury to Jason Terry or Devin Harris and will
likely spend most of the season on IR - and he signed knowing this was his
role. There were a couple of reasons to add him as a player instead of a
coach. More money - most assistant coaches earn well under $1 million.
The league picks up $354,954 of his salary (the amount over the minimum
salary for a 4th year player). Doesn't count as one of the 3 maximum
bench coaches - the league only allows 3 assistants to sit on the bench
during games (the 4th or more sits behind the bench) so AJ can sit on the
bench without moving another assistant off.
Derek Hood was signed to a non-guaranteed contract to add another body to
the training camp roster. He won't make the team and is there just for
experience.
Dallas released Jon Stefansson at the beginning of September. He never
appeared in a game for Dallas and there Mavs are facing a roster crunch
this season.
So Dallas currently has a roster with 18 players. Hood won't make the
opening day roster. So 2 other players with guaranteed contracts have to
be moved or released. Evan Eschmeyer and Tariq Abdul-Wahad were excused and
have not been at training camp. The Mavs hope to buy-out the rest of Esch's
contract (3 years, a little over $10 million left). The Mavs would like to
buyout the rest of Abdul-Wahad's contract (3 years, almost $22 million), but
he is not interested in doing so - which means he will likely spend the
entire season on IR again. Dan Dickau will likely not make the team -
either released or traded for a 2nd round draft pick (if the Mavs can find a
team willing to take him).
Rookie Pavel Podkolzin has not reported to camp yet as he is having visa
problems.
Marquis Daniels has been attending, but not participating in training camp
as he is still bothered by a sprained ankle he suffered 2 months ago. He
hopes to be ready to practice next week. He (obviously) will not play in
tomorrow's preseason game.
Former Mavs Hubert Davis, Mark Bryant, and Kelvin Upshaw have been added to
the developmental coaching squad.
The Mavs hosted the annual Blue-White scrimmage on Saturday at TCU (grumble,
nice 1 1/2 hour drive in the rain). The teams were lopside with most of
the stars on the White team. The White team consisted of Calvin Booth,
Erick Dampier, Michael Finley, Avery Johnson, Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry,
and Jerry Stackhouse (and the injured Marquis Daniels) and was coached by
Charlie Parker. The Blue team consisted of Shawn Bradley, Dan Dickau, Devin
Harris, Alan Henderson, Derek Hood, Josh Howard, and DJ Mbenga and was
coached by Larry Riley. Don Nelson, Donn Nelson, and Del Harris sat in a
corner and watched and about 4,000 fans attended. When he was introduced,
Terry took his t-shirt off an threw it into the stands. Trying to butter
up the Fort Worth fans, the jerseys had "DFW" on the front instead of
"DALLAS". Terry and Dampier wore knee high socks. It was a college court,
so it did not have some of the NBA standards, including the longer 3-point
line, so the refs were fairly lax in making some calls and rarely credited
3-pointers. The game consisted of 4 10 minute quarters with a running
clock. The Blue team came out running and with energy and the White team
came out cold and were slowing it down. There were lots and lots of clanked
shots by the White team throughout the game. So despite the White team
having the better talent, the Blue team jumped out to an early lead and kept
it for the next 3 quarters. The Blue team led 20-9 after 1, 32-21 at the
half, and 43-33 after 3. Nowitzki did kick it up in the 2nd half and scored
the first 6 points of the 3rd quarter, but his teammates were not able to
keep the run going and the Blue team was able to regain their double-digit
lead. Then came the 4th quarter and Nowitzki showed what a difference
having a stud can make. Nowitzki was lighting it up and the Blue team went
cold (it didn't help that Howard, the energy man for the Blue team, was
subbed out early into the quarter) and it was a tie game 4 minutes into the
quarter. The lead went back and forth over the rest of the game. With the
White team up by 1 point with about 30 seconds left, the Blue team fed
Henderson inside and, as the defense collapsed on him, he passed out to an
open Harris in the corner and he nailed the long jumper. The White team
brought the ball up and passed it around (with 4 different players getting
touches and passing instead of shooting) and ended with a miss by
Stackhouse. Bradley was intentionally fouled and he hit both free throws to
give the Blue team a 3 point lead. Terry brought the ball up and set an
outside screen as he passed to Nowitzki and Nowitzki drained the (obvious)
3-pointer with 4.6 seconds left. The Blue team brought the ball up and
Harris missed at the buzzer and the game ended at 57-57. Instead of playing
a 5 minute or even 2 minute overtime or even sudden death, the decision was
made to have the captain of each team select a fan to shoot free throws to
determine the winner [grumble, any sort of overtime by the players would
have been quicker than what they ended up doing]. Finley chose a member of
the TCU women's basketball team and Bradley chose a young lady who was
sitting next to her who we found out was a member of Oral Roberts
University's women's basketball team. Finley took the mike and introduced
his shooter. She made the free throw. Finley then went to Bradley's
shooter to get her name and Mbenga pushed him away, thinking Finley was
going to trash talk or something. Finley explained to Mbenga that he was
trying to get her name to introduce her and made the comment of "rookies"
into the mike and got a laugh. While Bradley's shooter was about to shoot,
Nowitzki came over and climbed up the basketball support and was hanging on
the support - but she made it anyway. Both shot another free throw and both
missed. 4 more fans were selected to shoot (a boy and a girl for each) and
each attempted 1 free throw and all were missed [it was entertaining, but I
would have rather had the players somehow end the game to break to tie].
So they opted to end the game in the tie [they also had a tied Blue-White
game a number of years ago]. The players left the court, with Terry
flinging a couple of things into the stands. Nowitzki, Finley, and Bradley
hung back and took off their shoes and flung them into the stands. As
for the individual performances: the White team looked terrible outside of
Nowitzki, who was a stud. Nowitzki had 30 points (most came in the 2nd
half) including 12-18 FG. Terry, Finley, Stackhouse, and Dampier did not
look very good. I had a big laugh on the 2nd possession of the game when
the White team was bring up the ball and my mom shouted out, "Now don't
start that stall ball junk!" To be fair to Dampier, he did get nice
position inside a couple of times, but his teammates either didn't get him
the ball or didn't get the ball to him quick enough and he had to clear out
of the paint. Needless to say, Don Nelson was not happy with the
performance of the White team. The Blue team had a number of good
performances. Josh Howard was a maniac and all over the court. He had the
energy going and was hitting his shots. He was the high man for the Blue
team with 19 points. Devin Harris had some nice moments with 2 spectacular
passes and hit a couple of outside shots. He looked good, but had some
rookie moments. I thought Alan Henderson looked very good in going after
rebounds (including offensive) and even had an impressive inside move for a
jam. Henderson had 16 points and 8 rebounds.
The Mavs will be hosting a select-a-seat (showing available seats and
encouraging the purchase of season tickets) and merchandise tent sale on
Saturday from 9 am to 6 pm at the AAC. For those who buy something (either
seats or merchandise), they can watch as the Mavs practice on the AAC floor
from 11 am to 2 pm. [And once again, those of us who have already shelled
out the big dough get slighted.]
There are road preseason games tomorrow at New Orleans at 7 pm and Sunday at
Orlando at 6 pm. The first home preseason game is next Tuesday vs Milwaukee
at 7:30 pm.
patricia